Nitish elected JD(U) president unopposed for another term

This time, he has been elected party chief at a time when the state is headed towards political transition after his decision to move to national politics.

As expected, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was on Tuesday elected unopposed as the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) national president yet another time, as no other candidate filed nomination for the party’s top post.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar addresses a public meeting during the Samridhi Yatra after being re-elected as the national president of the Janata Dal (United) in Kaimur on Tuesday. (CMO Bihar)

It will be his fifth term as party president.

While Kumar remained in Patna travelling as part of his Samriddhi Yatra sharing the Bihar government’s roadmap for 2025-2030 to achieve rapid all-round development, the certificate of his unopposed election as party president was handed over to JD(U) working president and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kumar Jha by Aneel Prasad Hegde, the returning officer and former Rajya Sabha MP at a press Conference in New Delhi.

Nitish had taken over the reins of the party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election after Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh stepped down in December 2023. He first became the party president in 2016 and was re-elected in 2019, but stepped down in 2020.

This time, he has been elected party chief at a time when the state is headed towards political transition after his decision to move to national politics.

Kumar had filed his nomination on Thursday. Jha, who was one of the proposers for Kumar, had submitted his nomination at the party’s central office in New Delhi. The Bihar chief minister did not go to Delhi to file his nomination.

Apart from Jha, Union ministers Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh, Ram Nath Thakur, Devesh Chandra Thakur, Bihar minister Shrawan Kumar, MP Lovely Anand, MLC Sanjay Gandhi, and other MPs and senior party leaders were present on the occasion.

Jha said that JD(U) was a party made by Nitish Kumar and was synonymous with Bihar’s transformational journey. “He first played a lead role in the formation of Samata Party when Bihar and Jharkhand were one state and later it took the shape of JD(U) in 2003, which scripted Bihar renaissance under him.

“He is our leader and we all work under him. He took over the reins of the state in 2005 when nobody was ready to give Bihar any chance, but he took it as a challenge and rest is history. He not only steered Bihar out of the situation of hopelessness, but made it aspirational,” he added.

Lalan Singh said that it has been a long journey of struggle for Nitish Kumar. “When Samata Party was formed, Bihar was in the grip of utter lawlessness and fear. The struggle led to the formation of the government under him in 2005, but it was a challenge for him to pull it out of the grave situation. He accepted it to take it so far today that nobody could think of two decades ago,” he added.

Nitish Kumar is the longest serving Bihar CM having taken oath 10 times. He recently got elected to the Rajya Sabha for the first time.

The last date for filing of nomination for the post was March 22, while the date for the scrutiny of documents of the candidates was March 23, but after nobody else filed papers, he election was a forgone conclusion.

With Nitish Kumar deciding to move to national politics after remaining CM for close to two decades, all eyes are now on his successor from the BJP, the largest party in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, and the role his politically uninitiated son Nishant Kumar could have in the state politics to fill the void.

It is the first time Bihar will have a BJP CM, even though the party has been in power in the state with JD-U since 2005, barring two occasions in 2013 and 2022 when Nitish moved out of the NDA to form the government with the RJD, but only to return later.

Nitish Kumar never allowed any of his family members to step into politics, but he relented on the call of his party leaders to let his son Nishant in after he decided to move to Rajya Sabha. Nitish Kumar is likely to resign as member of the Bihar Legislative Council by the end this week, as he cannot remain member of two Houses.

Congratulating Nitish Kunar on his unanimous election, state JD(U) president Umesh Kushwaha said that the party had come a long way under his leadership. “

“The strong blend of good governance, development and social justice that he established has become an example for the entire country. It is a matter of pride and privilege for every worker to work under his guidance. He will continue to inspire and encourage party workers,” he added.